SuPrBuGmAn
Contributor
Met up over at Gary's Gulf Diver today around 11:30 to find the back of the building busy with divers anxious for some free grub before hitting the water to do some clean up at one of our favorite local divesites. Gary grilled up a ton of hotdogs and there was a never ending supply of beans onsite. Tom did his damnedest to cook some crawfish, but mother nature just wouldn't allow it with all the wind keeping the fires down(I was drooling for em though). There were a ton of people onsite, many from ScubaBoard including algulfdiver(obviously), cmufieldhockey, Shagman, alcrmsntd, BRANDY, denisegg(and Andy), seadoggirl, GulfDiver77, Tom Wicker, YallWatchThis(maybe just on MBT's forums?), and several locals - maybe I didn't forget any SB'ers?
After some food a few purchases, we headed out to Perdido Pass. Gary took a group to dive the seawall and I took a group to dive the jetties. seadoggirl and denisegg opted out of the diving and opted in on the pleasure cruise around the pass in another participants boat.
In my group was cmufieldhockey, Shagman, alcrmsntd, and YallWatchThis. We were early for slack hightide and expected to fight a current as we were entering at the seawall/jetty beach and heading south to the point. We agreed on a turnaround pressure and to pick up as much trash as possible on the way to the point, if we reached the point, we would round it and mark the nets for the boat to pick up. We ended up only making it a bit past halfway before hitting turnaround pressures, but we filled several goodybags full of trash, mostly discarded fishing tackle. At one point, the flags got tangled and I was getting pulled around by alcrmsntd who was infront of me, then behind me. I had no idea who had my flag. All I knew was I was getting pulled around, so I cut the line. We saw lots of fish, including a large school of several dozen 20lb jack cravelle that jet past us several times - definately the high point of our entertainment. I hit a max depth of 29' for a dive lasting 55 minutes. Water temp was 68-69F and visibility 15-20'.
After a little surface BS and swapping out some tanks, we were in the water again nearly an hour after exitting our first dive. This time, we made the hike to the beachside of the west jetties and entered the water. We immediately went to work on a large gill net, setting it free, and toted it to the pleasure cruisers for them to haul in. We continued our dive south, for a short trip to the point, then back around and drifted north with the current back to our original entry at the seawall/jetty beach. Visibility had dropped to 5-10' with lots of particulate, but we still managed to pack a couple more goodybags full of trash. I hit a max depth of 28' for a dive lasting 48 minutes.
We had a great set of dives and managed to do something good for the area and environment. We rewwarded ourselves with the great food(and drinks) at Tacky Jacks.
After some food a few purchases, we headed out to Perdido Pass. Gary took a group to dive the seawall and I took a group to dive the jetties. seadoggirl and denisegg opted out of the diving and opted in on the pleasure cruise around the pass in another participants boat.
In my group was cmufieldhockey, Shagman, alcrmsntd, and YallWatchThis. We were early for slack hightide and expected to fight a current as we were entering at the seawall/jetty beach and heading south to the point. We agreed on a turnaround pressure and to pick up as much trash as possible on the way to the point, if we reached the point, we would round it and mark the nets for the boat to pick up. We ended up only making it a bit past halfway before hitting turnaround pressures, but we filled several goodybags full of trash, mostly discarded fishing tackle. At one point, the flags got tangled and I was getting pulled around by alcrmsntd who was infront of me, then behind me. I had no idea who had my flag. All I knew was I was getting pulled around, so I cut the line. We saw lots of fish, including a large school of several dozen 20lb jack cravelle that jet past us several times - definately the high point of our entertainment. I hit a max depth of 29' for a dive lasting 55 minutes. Water temp was 68-69F and visibility 15-20'.
After a little surface BS and swapping out some tanks, we were in the water again nearly an hour after exitting our first dive. This time, we made the hike to the beachside of the west jetties and entered the water. We immediately went to work on a large gill net, setting it free, and toted it to the pleasure cruisers for them to haul in. We continued our dive south, for a short trip to the point, then back around and drifted north with the current back to our original entry at the seawall/jetty beach. Visibility had dropped to 5-10' with lots of particulate, but we still managed to pack a couple more goodybags full of trash. I hit a max depth of 28' for a dive lasting 48 minutes.
We had a great set of dives and managed to do something good for the area and environment. We rewwarded ourselves with the great food(and drinks) at Tacky Jacks.
